Teresa Wanjiku of Kenya won the women's race for the second time, defeating her friend and compatriot, Gladys Asiba. Wanjiku, 27, crossed the finish line in 1:11:07 with Asiba timed at 1:11:41.
Both Yuda and Asiba earned $5,000 in prize money.
"This is the toughest high level international road race in the country," said three-time champion, Bill Rodgers, who has run every edition of the race but two. He finished in 1:23:21, 59th overall and fifth in the 50-54 age-group. "This race is crazy," he added, referring to the hilly course.
In the men's race, the large lead pack which had formed in the relatively flat downtown section of the race quickly broke up after the athletes made the left turn on to 29th Street just before the three mile mark. The steep climb is over a mile long, and when the leaders crested the hill, only four remained in contention for the win: Yuda, Kipkemboi, and two other Kenyans, Lazarus Nyakeraka and Gabriel Muchiri, who were slightly behind.
In the descent which followed, Yuda and Kipkemboi dropped their pursuers, and Yuda took control of the pace while Kipkemboi followed. The Tanzanian appeared to put the race away when he ran the severely downhill sixth mile in four minutes and 16 seconds, but Kipkemboi refused to give up. Before the next mile was completed, he was back up to Yuda, and was drafting him. Yuda looked back at his rival several times, but Kipkemboi refused to share the lead.
"When I ran in the flat [part of the] course it was not bad," said Kipkemboi after the race. "When I climbed the hills I felt my legs were not moving."
Yuda opened up another gap on Kipkemboi in the steep ascent in the tenth mile known as Chicken Neck, and incresed his lead in the descent which followed. By the time Yuda reached the base of Wheeling Hill at the ten mile mark, he had a 19 second lead. At that point Kipkemboi was just protecting his position.
"When I left John, I decided to maintain in second place," he said with some resignation.
Yuda sailed down the remaining hills to the finish line in downtown Wheeling, flying through the last mile in 4:17. His finish time was only 18 seconds off of the course record set by Dionicio Ceron of Mexico in 1990. He didn't realize that a new Chevrolet Cavalier from Marhefka Auto Dealers was offered for a course record. He thought he could have gotten it.
"I didn't think of anything," said Yuda in Swahili through a translator. "I just wanted to go."
Nonetheless, he was happy to win his first ever U.S. road race on a course which he said was the hardest he had ever run. A Mrangi tribesman born in the village of DoDoma, Yuda was the third Tanzanian winner in the history of the race. The oldest child in a family of four brothers and two sisters, he only began running seriously last year.
Women's champion Wanjiku took control of the race in the seventh mile, and finished the 12.42 mile course largely unchallenged. To make sure the race stayed out of reach, she ran the last mile in 4:59. She couldn't suppress her smile in discussing her victory.
"Just me and the hills," she said beaming when she described how she took the lead for good after seven miles. "The people of Wheeling were very much encouraging. I'm so happy for the Ogden Newspapers for taking over [the race]. Without a sponsor, there is no race."
In the masters race, forty-one year-old Andrew Masai of Kenya broke the 1996 masters course record of Martin Mondragon of Mexico by 20 seconds, clocking 1:03:48. He earned a $1000 bonus in addition to his $1000 in prize money, an amount he claimed could buy two cows in his native Kenya. Tatiana Pozdnyakova, 46, of the Ukraine won the women's masters race by more than ten minutes in 1:17:51.
The top U.S. finishers were Kevin Taylor of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1:08:53 (18th overall), and Alison Holinka of Williamsburg, Va. in 1:13:29 (5th overall). Holinka was an All American at the University of Notre Dame, where she ran under her maiden name, Klemmer.
Governor Bob Wise addressed the nearly 1000 runners and walkers before the race, and presented race founder and director, Hugh Stobbs, with the Distinguished West Virginian award honoring his 25 years of service to the race and the City of Wheeling.
Results:
MEN - 1. John Yuda, Tanzania, One hour and 41 seconds 2. Laban Kipkemboi, Kenya, 1:01:31 3. Lazarus Nyakeraka, Kenya, 1:01:55 4. Gabriel Muchiri, Kenya, 1:02:15 5. Amos Gitagama, Kenya, 1:02:31 6. Thomas Omwenga, Kenya, 1:02:51 7. John Kariuki, Kenya, 1:02:58 8. William Cheseret, Kenya, 1:03:41 9. Andrew Masai, Kenya, 1:03:48 10. Hezron Otwori, Kenya, 1:03:52 Masters (40+ years-old): 1. Andrew Masai, Kenya, 1:03:48 [masters course record] 2. Paul Evans, England, 1:04:05 WOMEN - 1. Teresa Wanjiku, Kenya, One hour, 11 minutes and seven seconds 2. Gladys Asiba, Kenya, 1:11:41 3. Jackline Okemwa, Kenya, 1:12:56 4. Anna Pichrtova, Czech Republic, 1:13:17 5. Alison Holinka, Williamsburg, Va., 1:13:29 6. Zinaida Semenova, Russia, 1:14:12 7. Olga Kovpotina, Russia, 1:15:26 8. Mary Alico, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1:16:22 9. Tatiana Pozdnyakova, Ukraine, 1:17:51 10. Yelena Plastinina, Ukraine, 1:18:55 Masters (40+ years-old): 1. Tatiana Pozdnyakova, Ukraine, 1:17:51 2. Becky Droginske, Wheeling, W.V., 1:28:45